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| Sunday, 8 August 2004 |
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Returning to our roots and establishing an identity by Malinda Seneviratne Political commentaries in English newspapers broadly reveal two kinds of pundits, those who are anti-JVP and those who are anti-JHU. Indeed, a good number of them are fond of taking pot-shots at both. If they knew the distinction between serious commentary and the outpouring of sour grapes-powered invective, they would have reflected long on that old Bob Dylan song "The Times they are a-changing" and pensioned off their pens or word processors. What is sad about these self-styled political analysts is that they cannot imagine a political world where neither of the two factions of the ruling elite hold sway. So they spend half the time trying to resurrect political creatures who have exhausted their evolutionary potential and are doomed to extinction (for the daydreamers, I am talking about the UNP and SLFP/PA) and the other half blasting the JVP and JHU. Understandable. Quite understandable. This is of course not to say that pot-shot taking has been entirely their preserve. The JVP and JHU have had their own skirmishes and quibbles, demonstrating in the process the wisdom of the adage "one quarrels mostly with those who are closest to you". In this case, ideologically. I myself have never been an ardent admirer of either the SLFP/PA or the UNP/F and I cannot even bring myself to understand how anyone in his/her right mind can admire either of these parties. On the other hand, neither has my support and/or endorsement of the JVP and JHU been unqualified. For example, while acknowledging with respect the organisational strength of the JVP, the discipline of its cadres and its clever political manoeuvres, I have always felt that that party has a certain difficulty in going beyond rhetoric and have been put off by its manifest populism. I am more at home with the JHU because that party, more than any other, speaks to who I am, my concerns and aspirations, even though I have on occasion criticized that party and especially the leader of its parliamentary group, Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera. I am quite perturbed by the fact that they have allowed themselves to get waylaid and drawn into the one-way street to disaster that is power politics. They were elected not to get into a shouting match with the JVP. They were elected not to jostle around to secure bragging rights. They were elected to push forward the agenda of the Sinhala Buddhists while eliciting greater democracy through institutional reform. They have tabled the Bill against unethical conversion, and this is good. But where are the correctives to the 17th Amendment? What about a media Bill that, among other things, provides for an Independent Media Commission? I am waiting. Globalisation But this article is not about the relative merits of the JVP and JHU. Neither is it about the hand-writing and finger-pointing of political has-beens who cannot bring themselves to understand that identity has triumphed over class, culture over economy; regardless of globalisation or maybe as a consequence. I merely want to comment on three things that I believe, together and separately, could indicate a radical departure in the unfolding of political process and redefining of the terrain over which ideological battles will be fought. Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Minister Vijitha Herath began by doing the unthinkable for a person in his position. He told the Portuguese where to get off. He said the "F-word" in the discourse of post-coloniality, the F-word which is actually an L-word, namely "LOOT". Not a single post-independendence cabinet minister has dared utter the word, has dared say "First give us back what you plundered from us!" Herath's niceties come, let us not forget, on the eve of the 500th anniversary of the beginning of plunder and theft in the name of commerce and civilization. Herath did not go into the details regarding the mad and brutal exercise that is colonialism, especially the fact that the marauder came with a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other. He did not venture to say that 500 years later, things are not too different. He could have said what Bishop Tutu acknowledged: "In the beginning, we had the land and they had the book; then they said: 'close your eyes, let us pray'. When we opened our eyes, we had the book and they had the land". The "book" was not mere objective, it was mechanism as well. That is colonialism in a nutshell for you. Herath did not say all this, but what he did say is more than enough to win my salute. We have after all had leaders who were crawling over each other to attend Charles' wedding. And not too long ago, the UNP government even wanted the Portuguese to have a bash to celebrate the anniversary of the commencement of cultural genocide. Needles to say, the catholic church would have loved it. A full account of such servility would run into several volumes. This extensive literature should not be destroyed, but studied and understood, for another literature, contesting it and overpowering it, has to be written. Vijitha Herath has not minced his words. More words ought to follow. Agriculture Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has also done the unthinkable. He has said "no" to the World Bank. More important is what he said "no" to. Finally, someone got it right. Development does not have to be described in "mega" terms, in fact mega-development has only wrought havoc on the environment, displaced people and impoverished nations. Anura's plan is pragmatic, culturally appropriate and economically eminently feasible. Ten thousand tanks and canals. Simple. Profound. There is infinitely more virtue in not seeking World Bank funds for such a project than for example one to restructure the judiciary. The tanks will outlast many "Resident Representatives" of that perniciously anti-people, pro-rich, minister-loving, official-loving boowalla. Considering the colossal waste that was the Accelerated Mahaweli Development Project, this initiative is certainly the best corrective available. And at a fraction of the cost, let us remember. Commission on contracts Dissanayake not only because he said "no" to the World Bank, but because he has simultaneously said "yes" to our people, our ancestors and our children. Very few ministers have chosen this path, possibly because it is not exactly conducive to stashing away millions by way of commissions on contracts, but probably because they have little or no faith in our people, our resources and our strength of character. Dissanayake has chosen to believe that we have it in us to lift ourselves from the condition of post-coloniality, which is in a sense, nothing else but shared and learned subservience, self-depreciation and feelings of inferiority. He has said "yes" to a time-tested way of life, a sustainable answer to periodic drought, community and solidarity, patriotism and self-worth. He has my unreserved salutations and support. Whatever resources I can muster is his. For this project. For his courage and patriotism. The third matter I wish to comment on is Ven. Athureliya Rathana's response to ITAK MP Gajendran's boast that 20,000 plus troops would be sent to Colombo in coffins if the ISGA proposals were not accepted and implemented. Ven. Rathana had to lecture Gajendran on democracy. Not that he understood or would want to understand, of course. The point is, very few people have the guts to call a terrorist a terrorist. Most of our politicians suffer from what I have called the Numb Finger Syndrome, the inability to point the finger at Balasingham and his yamapallas. Simply put, the LTTE cannot have the cake and eat it. It cannot be democratic and totalitarian. Balasingham cannot talk of "return to normalcy" while bumping off his opposition. His peace brigade cannot talk of a "negotiated settlement" while keeping mum about Balasingham's manifest aversion to negotiations when it comes to brutally eliminating opponents and silencing dissent. Ven. Rathana's lecture ought to have opened the eyes of both the government and the UNP, which, apart from the solitary voice of Mano Wijeratne, silently endorsed Balasingham's tyrannical views articulated by his parliamentary lapdog. When will our "leaders" learn to pronounce the word "terrorist"? When will they learn its meaning? When will they recognize that Balasingham clearly fits this definition? When will they come out and say it? They have not so far. Ven. Rathana has. The people noticed that he did. They also noticed who was silent. They will draw their own conclusions. As for me, I bow low in worshipping Ven. Rathana, one time cell-mate, university colleague, teacher and antagonist. "Sheersha Pranama, hamuduruwane!" All these three parliamentarians have, each in their own way, said "no" to that which has to be rejected. They have also said "yes", affirming that which should be affirmed. My friend Udayasiri Wickramaratne describes succinctly the post-colonial mindset. "Some keep dogs as pets, some parrots, some rabbits; but all of us, not just some, happily feed a pet suddha housed in our minds." In everything we do, this suddha calls the shots. The suddha tells us what to think, what to say, and what to do. Talk of a dog making a slave of its master. It is high time that this rabid dog was put to sleep. Permanently. What Ven. Rathana, Vijitha Herath and Anura Dissanayake have done is demonstrate that they are aware of this suddha's pernicious presence and are ready to subvert the creature. There is virtue in saying. There is greater virtue in doing. We are not going to get back the loot Europe plundered from us. We can protect what resources we have. And we do not have to go all the way to London to recover the all-important non-material elements of our cultural ethos which allows us to rediscover who we are. For this, I firmly believe, we have to revisit the teachings of Siddhartha Gauthama, recover the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha and in these three refuges, find out who we are. Recover ourselves. If the weva gives us solidarity, community and the foundations of material well-being, then the dagaba will give us the necessarily complementary spiritual strength. All this is necessary because national security is important; because national security involves food security, and because national security also involves cultural security. There will be a tomorrow for us, I am convinced. |
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